Acclaim Tries Bloodvertising To Promote New Game 62
Thanks to Ananova for reporting that Acclaim UK are trying what they call 'bloodvertising' to promote Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance, their PlayStation 2 and Xbox title billed as "the bloodiest ever [videogame]." The UK promotion will include: "Advertisements in bus shelters.. [where] cartridges of red dye will be placed behind clear sheets of film and released over a six-day period. The 'blood' will slowly appear to spill out on the streets and drip onto the pavements." This continues Acclaim's increasingly desperate series of publicity stunts, including using "spray-painted homing pigeons" at the Wimbledon tennis tournament and trying to place game adverts on gravestones.
Desperate (Score:4, Insightful)
This is a problem (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't get me wrong, I'm totally against censorship and such. I'm not one of those that think violent video games are evil or some such, hell I play cs lots. But Acclaim (seemingly the worst offender) is trying to sell a game because the game is bloody. Give me an hour and I'll code some blood in opengl. I'll make a program where every time you click a huge pool of blood explodes and spills everywhere. Is it a fun game? no.
I've noticed that lately a lot of people have been buying games based on theme. Like all the people who buy a Final Fantasy game just because it says Final Fantasy on it. Or all the people who put down the GameCube just because it looks like its for kids. These are the shallow minded retards that probably buy games Acclaim makes. You know a video game is a good game when you can replace every sprite with a stick figure and replace every thing else with color coded squares and it's still fun to play. That's a damn good game. If a game is only fun because the pictures happen to be pictures of trademarked characters or guns or blood or whatever the game still isn't a good game.
Look at Smash Bros. Sure they used their entire Nintendo lineup of characters as the theme. But if you took it away and replaced them all with stick figures the game would still rock the house. Now take any Acclaim game, do the same. What no gameplay?
If you want to see some blood there are a thousand websites with videos of hideous injuries you can look at. These ads are just one more way stupid developers are cheapening the industry.
Re:This is a problem (Score:4, Interesting)
Every time they got a game coming out the make up some outlandish proposal to get some press. You'd think people would catch on by now.
Final Fantasy and buying it for it's name (Score:5, Insightful)
Like all the people who buy a Final Fantasy game just because it says Final Fantasy on it.
which concludes that:
These are the shallow minded retards that probably buy games Acclaim makes.
I am not a Final Fantasy Fanboi, although I'm sure some people would disagree. I do think it's unfair to say that people who bought it just for the name are retarded. I buy Final Fantasy games just for the name, granted. It does not make me retarded. I buy them because they are a franchise which has excellent quality standards, because they are made by the same company, a company that I admire and trust with my purchasing decisions. Brand loyalty? Yes.
Admittedly, some people don't enjoy the FF series. Are they the people who keep buying FF games? I doubt it. If they are, then I grant you your point, those people are stupid, and would likely also buy Acclaim crap.
If you like the series, and have in every past iteration, and have liked every spinoff line, then why SHOULDN'T you buy the game just based on it's name? It's very likely that you *will* end up enjoying it a lot. (and if not, it only takes bad purchase to break you of that habit pretty damn quick. See: Master Of Orion 3, Sim City 4)
Re:Final Fantasy and buying it for it's name (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Final Fantasy and buying it for it's name (Score:2)
Re:Final Fantasy and buying it for it's name (Score:2, Redundant)
Please note that just because the games are not really "role-playing" games at all, does not mean that they're bad games. Judge the game, not how it fits into it's alleged genre. They have excellent graphics, soundtracks, stories, and provide me with countless hours of entertainment, something that few other games have ever accomplished for me.
On the other hand, if
Re:Final Fantasy and buying it for it's name (Score:1, Insightful)
I downgraded by interest in Final Fantasy games not because I didn't like the games, but because I wanted to expand my collection of games to include other sources. I'll still buy Final Fantasy games... just not at full/initial price.
Re:This is a problem (Score:5, Interesting)
The "crime" of which you seem to consider others guilty is one that you yourself have committed in deciding before playing that Acclaim's game is bad. In other words, you seem to be indicating that buying a game because you've enjoyed other games from the same series or company in the past is wrong, while insulting a game from a company that has done bad games in the past is perfectly acceptable.
I would also suggest to you that just because you feel that Super Smash Brothers, with or without great graphics, can "rock the house," it doesn't make it a great video game achievement - it's a fighting game with Nintendo characters. There are probably plenty of people who DON'T like the game (I didn't care for it that much myself). It's certainly not like Nintendo started some revolution with the series, and the unassailable fact is that the game would NOT have been as successful had it not included Nintendo characters from other games.
Me? I think that Acclaim tends, on average, to produce sub-par games and that their marketing strategies are often tacky and inappropriate. Of course, that's true of most advertising and probably shouldn't warrant extra attention just because they happen to be selling video games.
I want to note, too, that I managed to write all of the above without referring to you or anyone else by using offensive terminology. My rule of thumb is that anyone who would throw the term "retard" around is probably someone in a glass house.
Re:This is a problem (Score:1)
Um, I do not know how it is in the US of A, but here in the Netherlands, the only games for Nintendo that do get some ad time, are Mario, Zelda and the occasional sports game. The cool games get the attention in the specialized game magazines, you never see them in any mass media. So Average Joe thinks that the GameCube is a kiddie console.
der Joachim
Re:This is a problem (Score:1)
Re:This is a problem (Score:3, Funny)
I'd play it. I mean, I wouldn't pay for it, but I'd play it. Shoving a guy down the stairs or running a guy into a wall with a truck [jet.ro] is fun, so why wouldn't exploding blood pools be fun?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This is a problem (Score:1)
Interestingly, Acclaim aren't 100% committed to the Gamecube. [slashdot.org] I think you might be right.
oh yeah... (Score:5, Insightful)
Terrific. The parent and "think of the children" groups are going to have a field day with this. Blood dripping into the streets? Yup, someone in a high place is going to be told about this and raise a firestorm.
Re:oh yeah... (Score:1)
And this is bad for their advertising campaign HOW?
What happens every time a product is "boycotted" or these angry mom groups raise a stink? The company sells more of the product than ever before.
They are doing this on purpose.
Turok (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Turok (Score:4, Informative)
But I also accidently found this other Turok marketing thingy [mynameisturok.co.uk], where they brainwash you into thinking you're Turok or something. Now I'm not exactly sure if that means that you become the video game character, the video game itself, or the $10,000 baby.
Either way you get "500 in cash, plus an X-Box, plus every Turok game that ever was." I woulda settled for a $2 and firm pat on the buttocks.
Re:Turok (Score:1)
It's funny until someone gets blood stains... (Score:5, Informative)
The 'blood' will slowly appear to spill out on the streets and drip onto the pavements.
What happense if if someone gets this on their pantlegs or shoes?
But really....I think one of the advertisers was watching simpsons and saw the episode [tvtome.com] with the itchy scratchy: the movie billboard which poured blood onto the newlyweds below.
Re:It's funny until someone gets blood stains... (Score:1)
They have already won.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Pretty good marketing, really.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:They have already won.. (Score:1)
Amazing! Do you live in the UK? Because that's where the ads are going to be...
Now I know why you limies are always saying "bloody hell!"
Re: (Score:2)
Uhhh... Huh... (Score:2)
Re:Uhhh... Huh... (Score:2)
Too bad... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The right step down the wrong path (Score:5, Insightful)
PC games don't get advertised as heavily because a) the number of people interested in playing PC games is much, MUCH smaller than the number of people interested in playing console games and b) the PC, despite what some believe, was not designed as a video game machine and was in fact designed as a productivity tool. It requires a significant investment to turn a basic PC (with CPU, 256MB of RAM, onboard video and sound, hard drive, monitor, etc.) into a capable gaming device, whereas it takes less than $200 to obtain the hardware necessary to play console games (a little more than $200 in the case of the PS2).
Further, your system-specific points barely make sense and provide no information to back them up. Who claims that the PS2 is "most difficult...to figure out"? Which gamers, besides the most lunatic proponents of other consoles, call the Gamecube "kiddie"? And which Xbox games have "little replay value without Xbox Live"?
I'll save you the trouble of answering those questions. Nobody but the addle-minded find the PS2 hard to operate, ONLY rabid anti-Nintendo nuts dismiss the Gamecube as being a kiddie console, and very damn few Xbox games can be considered as needing Xbox Live to be enjoyed.
The truth is that console titles sell more units and, in general, make more money than PC games. Thus, the console games are naturally going to be more of a marketing priority than PC games owing to the fact that 'it takes money to make money' and television advertising still isn't what I would call cheap.
I'll finish by addressing one more of your points: Even though I watch television via ReplayTV, and thus watch VERY few commercials, I do see snippets and Sony and Nintendo do plenty of advertising for systems and games. There is no way that 29 of 30 video game ads are for Xbox titles. If you think so, then you're not watching a lot of TV - which, of course, most would consider a good thing.
Re:The right step down the wrong path (Score:1)
i've played games on both PS2 and GameCube, though not XBox (and i don't own any of them). the gamecube is great, but seemingly under rated. you DO get the feel that it's oriented more twards younger kids and families. Nintendo (or the game maker) does advertise for the GameCube, though all i've seen are things like Mario [whatever] and other family/kid oriented titles. not to say there aren't other more mature titles, they just don't seem to be advertised. Infact i
Re:The right step down the wrong path (Score:1)
at the core though the games are often made for everyone, but they just missed such facts that yes people do not play the game before they buy them, and if the game looks to be for kids (with kids in the commercials, with toylike consoles and a purple kid like logo), and yes people do not want to show off
Re:The right step down the wrong path (Score:2)
Actually, yes I do.
If the number of people interested in PC games is so much smaller than people playing console games, then why the hell are there companies being built solely for the purpose of building gaming machines? Maybe they're just catering a niche market, fine. I can accept that as an economist. But Dell? Dell is arguably one of the biggest computer manufacturers on the market for now, and if gaming machines are a niche market then
Re:The right step down the wrong path (Score:2)
Let's see. Dell is taking computers they're already hoping to sell and making some of them gaming PCs. That's quite the risky proposition - you know, buying OEM video cards. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Dell is trying to have a computer for everyone, so of course they're going to have gaming PCs. It doesn't
Re:The right step down the wrong path (Score:1)
GTA3 Vice City sold 8.5 million copies and is still going strong. That's $400 million in sales for a game that uses the same engine as GTA3 (also insanely profitable) and thus had development costs that were practically zero.
Even their title Max Payne (the first one) made Take Two more than $100 million in profit.
These games mostly cost $2-3 million to make and if the
Crap. (Score:2, Funny)
Acclaim have shit-for-brains and every time they pull this sort of crap, they get free publicity in the media.
Not all publicity is good publicity (Score:1)
Not all publicity is good publicity. Just ask Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.
What next? (Score:5, Funny)
ducatti world [acclaim.com] leaks oil?
I don't even want to know what liquid they'll use to promote Iggy's Reckin Balls! [acclaim.com]
WARNING: HORRIBLE PUN AHEAD (Score:3)
Why always Acclaim UK? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why always Acclaim UK? (Score:2)
Re:Why always Acclaim UK? (Score:1)
Uh, guys... the earlier ones weren't REAL. (Score:5, Interesting)
About Identity Marketing [mynameisturok.co.uk]
Dr S. Cantrell isn't real. His book, "Market Their Pants Off!" (Engell International, ISBN 0552546925), isn't real. The whole thing was a hoax. I mean, my God, look at the man.. could that more clearly be a prop bow-tie?
The gravestone thing was a hoax as well... I haven't the link at the moment.
So the chances of this being real are terribly, terribly low. Especially with the cleaning of the sidewalks....
In a few days, we'll find out this was a hoax. Those of us who were here to read about it will remember, but a whole new set of people will get interested, and maybe angry, about the next one. Yay. Pthppht.
False advertising (Score:4, Informative)
No, what we get is a series of repetitive blood textures added to the grounds around where a traditional penetration damage model is taking place. Nothing new here.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Happy Tree Friends [happytreefriends.com] to watch.
Re:False advertising (Score:2)
Hey, speak for yourself; I, for one, am quite a fan of traditional penetration.
"Fast animals, slow children" - this fall on FOX (Score:1, Funny)
Let's tell Acclaim that this ad hoax is too much (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't want to play games anymore because their so violent. Okay so this game isn't the most violent, but they're advertising is over the top. Games are dark. I feel depressed after spending hours killing stuff. Maybe I'm getting old, but I like a little bit more in my entertainment.
I was just killing some time at the mall yesterday. I start to overhear (she was hard not to hear) a mother getting upset about the ratings on a video game. She was worried that "Syphon Filter" was too violent a game. She started asking some of the salespeople (read saleskids) if they had played the game. She asked them if the game was violent. Hmm. Let's see, your a trained killer sent by the government to kill. Geeze, I don't know if the guy carrying a gun on the cover is any clue. I guess in the world of video games it's not as bad as that new serial killer game or the naked bike riding game or the anarchy game. I know it's easy to code the hunt and kill AI. It's hard to parse out text. And we all know games can't pass the Turing test. MMORPGs are still young and we just aren't all that creative. Trust me, hackers are smart but they're just not creative. Most games looks like a cross between Snowcrash and the Evil Dead.
You know I heard a story about Nero once. People around him were starving yet he would hold these massive feasts. There would be too much food for even Nero too eat. The party-goers would gorge themselves until they became full. Then they would proceed to vomit the food they ate so they could run back to the dinner table and gorge some more. They became addicted to the pleasures of life. So much even the simple act of eating became unhealthy.
Look, I'm going to do more than boycott this game. I intend on personally blacklisting Acclaim and the designer. Any other game that this desinger(s) or Acclaim puts out, I won't buy. I'm going to write them an email telling them this. I don't want Joe Lieberman to create a new law. I don't want Phil Mushnik to write a bunch of articles about this. I want to boycott Acclaim. I'm part of their prime demographic. I'm a young male who writes code for a living and can afford to buy such a game. We've got to let them know. Frankly, the game industry is worse than the music industry. There aren't any legitimate artists making games. John Carmack can code, but he couldn't design his way out of a paper bag. He's got the creativity of a 13 year old hopped up on Ritalin.
end of rant
It's remarkable to what lengths... (Score:3, Insightful)
Another idiotic ad from acclaim... (Score:1)
Penny Arcade (Score:1)
Blood + Gore Isn't end all and be all (Score:1)
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